Askervicius launched a beautiful uchi-mata for ippon in the closing stages of the men's over 100 kilogram final to stun the Georgian Tbilisi Grand Prix winner and claim a remarkable gold medal in a contest that seemed to heavily favour Okruashvili.

Georgia found more luck in the first bronze medal match of the category when Levani Matiashvili was handed the win following the withdrawal of Russian opponent Renat Saidov due to injury.

The other bronze medal was over almost as quickly as the first with Ukraine's Stanislav Bondarenko tossing Germany's Andre Breitbarth for ippon after just 30 seconds.

France's Cyrille Maret is the man to beat in the men's under 100kg category as he strode to victory at the Samsun Judo Grand Prix ©IJF



In a day that saw gold claimed by five different countries, it was France's Cyrille Maret who took the honours in the men's under 100kg final as the Frenchman cemented his status amongst the best of the category with victory over Russia's Adlan Bisultanov.

The Paris Grand Slam winner needed just two yuko scores to dispense his Russian opponent as he continued on his quest to judo glory.

Germany's Karl-Richard Frey took just 37 seconds to secure the first bronze medal after catching Azerbaijan's Elmar Gasimov with a shime-waza for ippon.

Even less time was needed for Iran's Javad Mahjoub to get the better of Martin Pacek as he applied the same technique as Frey to claim the other bronze medal.

It was another quick encounter in the men's under 90kg final where Beka Gviniashvili of Georgia threw Germany's Marc Odenthal with a powerful o-goshi for ippon after just 15 seconds of action.

An early waza-ari was enough for Sweden's Joakim Dvarby to secure the first bronze medal as he beat Russia's Magomed Magomedov.

There was more lightening fast action in the second bronze medal final with France's Alexandre Iddir landing an impressive sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for ippon after only 25 seconds to beat Ukraine's Vadym Synyavsky.

Tunisia's Nihel Cheikh Rouhou followed a yuko score with a quick immobilisation to secure the women's over 78kg title ©IJF



It was the turn of the Tunisian's in the women's over 78kg category as African Champion Nihel Cheikh Rouhou overcame Germany's Jasmin Kuelbs with a yuko score followed by a quick immobilisation enough to secure her the win

An all-Turkish affair in the first bronze medal match saw Gulsah Kocaturk launch teammate Kubra Kara with an o-soto-gari for ippon after just 15 seconds whilst Brazil's Maria Suelen Altheman secured the other bronze with a ura-nage for ippon after just 25 seconds against Sahar Trabelsi of Tunisia.

Germany added to their incredible gold medal tally from day two with another gold in the women's under 78kg.

Luise Malzahn was handed the gold medal following Great Britain's Natalie Powell was forced to retire due to injury.

Croatia's Ivana Maranic secured the first bronze medal after Belarusian opponent Sviatlana Tsimashenka was penalised with more shido penalties than the Croatian.

A last-gasp ko-soto-gake for waza-ari, followed by an immobilisation for ippon, by France's Sama Hawa Camara gave the 19-year-old her first major medal in competitive judo as she dispensed of Algeria's Kaouthar Ouallal.

The next International Judo Federation (IJF) World Judo Tour competition is due to be the Judo Grand Slam, Baku 2014, which will be held from May 9 until 11 in the Azerbaijani capital.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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